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Super-size scanning: How ScanLAB imaged a Greenpeace ship in 3D

This article was taken from the June 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content bysubscribing online.

William Trossell and Matt Shaw are updating the Dorling Kindersley-style exploded illustration by using 3D scanners on real-life objects. "It's an incredibly forensic view," says Trossell, 27, cofounder with Shaw of ScanLAB.

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The pair can scan a location in around ten minutes, capturing moments in time as well as the surroundings. "Normally, when you document a building, you just document the structure," says Shaw. "This documents the life inside the building as well -- you grab whatever that second is, whatever people have on their desks."

He and Shaw started ScanLAB while at the UCL Bartlett School of Architecture four years ago, when they were loaned a 3D scanner. "We started doing all these things you weren't supposed to do," says Shaw, 28. The pair then created their own scans of glass surfaces, smoke and clouds; and of sites such as London's

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Natural History Museum and landscapes for scientific surveys. They scanned the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise (pictured) on an Arctic expedition where they also scanned ice floes - taking in areas ranging from netball-pitch to football-stadium size.

Now ScanLAB is trying "slow life scanning", which includes moving people in the scans to create distorted forms. "Once you have moving people, you create amazing shapes," says Trossell. He and Shaw plan to turn the scans into metal sculptures (they've 3D-printed mini-sculptures already), and are offering the service to architectural firms. "You can have a very remote site on your desktop, in colour, with continual access."